Residents in the Lyncourt Union Free School District overwhelmingly approved a $5.75 million capital project today by a vote of 133 to 35.

"It's great for our students and the community," Superintendent Michael Schiedo said tonight. "We're looking forward to improving the facilities and continue to strive to improve academic achievement."

The capital project includes an approximately 14,000-square-foot addition to Lyncourt School; phone, cable and speaker upgrades; and several health and safety improvements.

Local taxes will not increase because of the project. Instead, the district plans to pay for it using 84.5 percent state building aid and the remaining amount from the district's capital reserve.

The addition will include four new classrooms and a gymnasium.

Lyncourt now has seven shared classrooms, where two teachers teach in the same room at the same time.

"It is a distraction for students and teachers," the superintendent has said. "Instructionally and programmatically this will help immensely."

The addition would give two full-time reading teachers, two speech and language teachers, two special education teachers, and one special education and one ESL teacher their own rooms.

The new gymnasium would have locker rooms, a small lobby, a concession stand, seating and a safer playing area. Right now, the end lines for the basketball court are 2½ feet from the wall and pose a safety hazard, Schiedo said. The school sets up chairs for anyone watching modified basketball games, as well as for recreational and adult basketball leagues because there is no seating, Schiedo said.

Other project highlights include replacing two roofs; lowering ceilings at least 10-feet tall and installing energy-efficient lighting to save on heating and electrical costs; and replacing all the windows in the 1960s wing, which houses pre-kindergarten through second grades.

"I think (voters) realized the state is basically paying for the project along with the capital reserve, and this is a way of getting something back from the state that's a positive for our community," Schiedo said. "In these hard times, it's good the students, the parents and the community has something good to look forward to."

Construction is expected to begin in the spring of 2010 and be completed by August 2011.